Text of the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010

This bill was introduced in a previous session of Congress but was killed due to a failed vote for cloture, under a fast-track vote called "suspension", or while resolving differences on December 16, 2010. The text of the bill below is as of Dec 2, 2010 (Referred to House Committee).

To protect girls in developing countries
through the prevention of child marriage, and for other
purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the
International Protecting Girls by
Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010.

2.

Findings

Congress makes the following
findings:

(1)

Child marriage, also known as forced
marriage or early marriage, is a harmful traditional
practice that deprives girls of their dignity and human rights.

(2)

Child marriage as a traditional practice,
as well as through coercion or force, is a violation of article 16 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, Marriage shall be
entered into only with the free and full consent of intending
spouses.

(3)

According to the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF), an estimated 60,000,000 girls in developing countries now ages
20 through 24 were married under the age of 18, and if present trends continue
more than 100,000,000 more girls in developing countries will be married as
children over the next decade, according to the Population Council.

(4)

Between 1/2 and
3/4 of all girls are married before the age of 18 in
Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea, the Central African Republic,
Mozambique, Burkina Faso, and Nepal, according to Demographic Health Survey
data.

(5)

Factors perpetuating child marriage include
poverty, a lack of educational or employment opportunities for girls, parental
concerns to ensure sexual relations within marriage, the dowry system, and the
perceived lack of value of girls.

(6)

Child marriage has negative effects on the
health of girls, including significantly increased risk of maternal death and
morbidity, infant mortality and morbidity, obstetric fistula, and sexually
transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

(7)

According to the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), increasing the age at first birth for a
woman will increase her chances of survival. Currently, pregnancy and
childbirth complications are the leading cause of death for women 15 to 19
years old in developing countries.

(8)

Most countries with high rates of child
marriage have a legally established minimum age of marriage, yet child marriage
persists due to strong traditional norms and the failure to enforce existing
laws.

(9)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has
stated that child marriage is a clear and unacceptable violation of
human rights, and that the Department of State categorically
denounces all cases of child marriage as child abuse.

(10)

According to an International Center for
Research on Women analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data, areas or
regions in developing countries in which 40 percent or more of girls under the
age of 18 are married are considered high-prevalence areas for child
marriage.

(11)

Investments in girls' schooling, creating
safe community spaces for girls, and programs for skills building for
out-of-school girls are all effective and demonstrated strategies for
preventing child marriage and creating a pathway to empower girls by addressing
conditions of poverty, low status, and norms that contribute to child
marriage.

3.

Child marriage defined

In this Act, the term child
marriage means the marriage of a girl or boy, not yet the minimum age
for marriage stipulated in law in the country in which the girl or boy is a
resident or, where there is no such law, under the age of 18.

4.

Sense of Congress

It is the sense of Congress that—

(1)

child marriage is a violation of human
rights, and the prevention and elimination of child marriage should be a
foreign policy goal of the United States;

(2)

the practice of child marriage undermines
United States investments in foreign assistance to promote education and skills
building for girls, reduce maternal and child mortality, reduce maternal
illness, halt the transmission of HIV/AIDS, prevent gender-based violence, and
reduce poverty; and

(3)

expanding educational opportunities for
girls, economic opportunities for women, and reducing maternal and child
mortality are critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and the
global health and development objectives of the United States, including
efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS.

5.

Strategy to prevent child marriage in
developing countries

(a)

Assistance authorized

(1)

In general

The President is authorized to provide
assistance, including through multilateral, nongovernmental, and faith-based
organizations, to prevent the incidence of child marriage in developing
countries through the promotion of educational, health, economic, social, and
legal empowerment of girls and women.

(2)

Priority

In providing assistance authorized under
paragraph (1), the President shall give priority to—

(A)

areas or regions in developing countries in
which 40 percent or more of girls under the age of 18 are married; and

(B)

activities to—

(i)

expand and replicate existing
community-based programs that are successful in preventing the incidence of
child marriage;

(ii)

establish pilot projects to prevent child
marriage; and

(iii)

share evaluations of successful programs,
program designs, experiences, and lessons.

(b)

Strategy required

(1)

In general

The President shall establish a multi-year
strategy to prevent child marriage and promote the empowerment of girls at risk
of child marriage in developing countries, which should address the unique
needs, vulnerabilities, and potential of girls under age 18 in developing
countries.

(2)

Consultation

In establishing the strategy required by
paragraph (1), the President shall consult with Congress, relevant Federal
departments and agencies, multilateral organizations, and representatives of
civil society.

(3)

Elements

The strategy required by paragraph (1)
shall—

(A)

focus on areas in developing countries with
high prevalence of child marriage;

(B)

encompass diplomatic initiatives between
the United States and governments of developing countries, with attention to
human rights, legal reforms, and the rule of law;

(C)

encompass programmatic initiatives in the
areas of education, health, income generation, changing social norms, human
rights, and democracy building; and

(D)

be submitted to Congress not later than one
year after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(c)

Report

Not later than three years after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the President should submit to Congress a report
that includes—

(1)

a description of the implementation of the
strategy required by subsection (b);

(2)

examples of best practices or programs to
prevent child marriage in developing countries that could be replicated;
and

(3)

an assessment, including data disaggregated
by age and sex to the extent possible, of current United States funded efforts
to specifically prevent child marriage in developing countries.

(d)

Coordination

Assistance authorized under subsection (a)
shall be integrated with existing United States development programs.

(e)

Activities supported

Assistance authorized under subsection (a)
may be made available for activities in the areas of education, health, income
generation, agriculture development, legal rights, democracy building, and
human rights, including—

(1)

support for community-based activities that
encourage community members to address beliefs or practices that promote child
marriage and to educate parents, community leaders, religious leaders, and
adolescents of the health risks associated with child marriage and the benefits
for adolescents, especially girls, of access to education, health care,
livelihood skills, microfinance, and savings programs;

(2)

support for activities to educate girls in
primary and secondary school at the appropriate age and keeping them in
age-appropriate grade levels through adolescence;

(3)

support for activities to reduce education
fees and enhance safe and supportive conditions in primary and secondary
schools to meet the needs of girls, including—

(A)

access to water and suitable hygiene
facilities, including separate lavatories and latrines for girls;

(B)

assignment of female teachers;

(C)

safe routes to and from school; and

(D)

eliminating sexual harassment and other
forms of violence and coercion;

(4)

support for activities that allow
adolescent girls to access health care services and proper nutrition, which is
essential to both their school performance and their economic
productivity;

(5)

assistance to train adolescent girls and
their parents in financial literacy and access economic opportunities,
including livelihood skills, savings, microfinance, and small-enterprise
development;

(6)

support for education, including through
community and faith-based organizations and youth programs, that helps remove
gender stereotypes and the bias against girls used to justify child marriage,
especially efforts targeted at men and boys, promotes zero tolerance for
violence, and promotes gender equality, which in turn help to increase the
perceived value of girls;

(7)

assistance to create peer support and
female mentoring networks and safe social spaces specifically for girls;
and

(8)

support for local advocacy work to provide
legal literacy programs at the community level to ensure that governments and
law enforcement officials are meeting their obligations to prevent child and
forced marriage.

6.

Research and data

It is the sense of Congress that the
President and all relevant agencies should, as part of their ongoing research
and data collection activities—

(1)

collect and make available data on the
incidence of child marriage in countries that receive foreign or development
assistance from the United States where the practice of child marriage is
prevalent; and

(2)

collect and make available data on the
impact of the incidence of child marriage and the age at marriage on progress
in meeting key development goals.

7.

Department of State's country reports on
human rights practices

The
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended—

(1)

in section 116 (22 U.S.C. 2151n), by adding
at the end the following new subsection:

(g)

The report required by subsection (d) shall
include, for each country in which child marriage is prevalent, a description
of the status of the practice of child marriage in such country. In this
subsection, the term child marriage means the marriage of a girl
or boy, not yet the minimum age for marriage stipulated in law or under the age
of 18 if no such law exists, in the country in which such girl or boy is a
resident.

;
and

(2)

in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by adding
at the end the following new subsection:

(i)

The report required by subsection (b) shall
include, for each country in which child marriage is prevalent, a description
of the status of the practice of child marriage in such country. In this
subsection, the term child marriage means the marriage of a girl
or boy, not yet the minimum age for marriage stipulated in law or under the age
of 18 if no such law exists, in the country in which such girl or boy is a
resident.